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1996-07-18
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FASTLST
Changes and Additions
1.36 Public Release, July 18th 1996
- "LocalValues" can now be used multiple times for
users at the crossroads of multiple area codes.
See the docs under "Dial Table".
- The "Phone" statement has been extended to:
Phone <Addr> [#]<Phone> [<NodeFlags> [<Cost> [<UCost>]]]
- Phone specifications starting with '#' are taken
verbatim (no dial translation, no cost look-up); this
may be handy for internet addresses and script names.
- New statement "CostVerbatimPhone <cost> <ucost>" to
specify default costs for "verbatim" phone
specifications.
1.34 Public Release, July 1st 1996
- OS/2: New statement "ArcDate Write|Creation" to choose
which date must be used by FastLst to compute the age
of archived nodelist files, defaults to Creation,
ignored by non-OS2 versions.
- New errorlevel 16: nothing found after unarchiving a
fixed-name nodelist.
- When dealing with fixed-name nodelists, FastLst now
always sets the archive date to the same value of the
included file.
- Under certain conditions the old versions of FastLst
might re-archive the original nodelist file, so that
it may fail TIC CRC-check when forwarded.
The problem arises when the following conditions are
satisfied at the same time:
- new nodelist archive file
- new configuration
- zipmethod includes the original archive type
- Improved documentation.
1.33
- OS/2: Version 1.32 invoked the command processor when
executing external commands with no .exe or .com
extension specified, instead of trying to load the
executable directly.
This was due to an overlook of the DosExecPgm OS/2 API,
used to improve compatibility in the case of substitution
parameters containing "special" OS/2 characters.
Now FastLst tries to load the command as specified, then
it tries with .COM extension appended, in the end with
.EXE.
1.32
- New "MultiLineDesc <nnn> [<c>]" statement for enabling
Multi-Line description support.
- New "FlagDef" table to associate nodelist flags to user
defined bits.
- In "Version7 <path> <Nodex> <SysopNdx>" you can now
specify an extension for <SysopNdx>.
If no extension is specified, ".NDX" is assumed if
<SysopNdx> is different from <Nodex>, otherwise the
".SDX" extension is used.
- New <nodex>.BSY V7 semaphore to avoid concurrent access
to nodelist files during compilation.
- New errorlevel 14 exit on timeout on V7 semaphore.
- The "MsgRem" used alone, will report all comment lines,
excluding the empty ones.
- Use of "Phone <addr> <newnumber>" for scripts and
internet addresses (not new, just explained):
Examples:
My country code is 39 (Italy) and the area code is 59
(Modena):
Phone 1:106/2000 39-59-#juge*com ; VMODEM address
Phone 1:123/4567 39-59-12*34*56*78 ; telnet IP address
Phone 2:245/6789 39-59-"Bob.scr" ; quoted script name
- Some configuration errors better flagged.
- V7 packing algorithm improved in speed.
- Dropped OS/2 16 bit version
- New NT version. Unfortunately it doesn't work under W95
(the external commands seem not to work so that nodelists
can't be packed/unpacked. Maybe when I will upgrade the
Watcom compiler, I will support W95 too.
- New icon FastLst2.Ico for OS/2.
- New Registration sites.
1.31
- New "CostNullPhone <cost> [<ucost>]" global keyword, to
allow the specification of costs to be assigned to nodes
with empty (unpublished, etc.) phone number.
<ucost> defaults to <cost>.
If CostNullPhone is not used, <cost> defaults to 65535
and <ucost> to 0.
Example:
CostNullPhone 1000 0
Some programs might have bugs that cause problems dealing
with high costs (such as the default 65535). Should you
experience problems with entries that have a "NullPhone",
try setting a lower cost e.g. "CostNullPhone 900 0".
- Before applying a diff, the CRC of the OLD nodelist (as
reported in its first line) is compared to the one
reported in the diff file. Previously this check was not
done, so in the remote case you were applying a diff to
an illegal nodelist (e.g. a european diff to an american
nodelist), the error was discovered only at the end of
the application, when checking the CRC of the resulting
nodelist.
- Checks added to warn about illegal empty Cost or Dial
tables. Previously the program hanged.
- No more Access Violations when "ArcDiff" is used without
"NodeDiff" (it is a strange configuration, but it is now
legal).
- Fixed bug that caused access violation applying a
nodediff when using "NodeDiff" without "ArcDiff" (anyway
you are encouraged letting FastLst do all the work it is
designed for...).
- The number of archived nodelists to be kept (as specified
in the ArcList statement) is now checked a second time
after nodediff application, so that the required number
of archives is kept exactly. Previously, after nodediff
application, there was one archive more than specified.
- When specifying <ArcKeep> 0 in "ArcList", the nodelist is
not archived (previously was archived and then deleted).
- Changed Compress.Cfg to support the OS/2 RAR.
- Dos versions are now distributed with the same executable
names as the OS/2 versions: FASTLST.EXE (32 bit) and
FASTL16.EXE (16 bit).
1.30
- WARNING: FastLst v 1.30 is NOT a true "Drop In"
replacement for v 1.20, anyway there is little to change:
- Add a "CompressCfg <squish_compress_cfg_file>" line to
the "Global Info" section of your fastlst.cfg.
- Remove all "Arc" and "UnArc" lines.
- In each "Input block" section where you would like to
be able to compress new nodelists (e.g. where Nodediffs
are processed and you were using "Arc" statements), add
one or more "ArcMethod <meth>,[<f>] ..." lines, where
<meth> represents one of the archiving methods defined
in <squish_compress_cfg_file> (e.g. ZIP, LH, etc.) and
the optional <f> is an override for the initial
character of the archived file extension (in the case
it is named after the day of the year and you do not
want to use the first character of the default
extension, as defined in <squish_compress_cfg_file>).
- See FastLst.Doc for more information.
- DOS: There is a new 32 bit version with the DOS4GW
extender.
- OS/2: There is a new 16 bit version for those who still
use OS/2 1.3.
- OS/2 32: the "Priority" statement can be used to change
the priority for the FastLst process.
- The 32 bit versions can now be configured to use the
temporary file instead of working in memory.
The "FileMode" statement and the "-t" command line switch
are used for selecting the mode.
- The routines used in 32 bit versions for "in memory" work
(no temporary file) have been completely rewritten in
order to need far less memory. This way, the 32 bit
versions usually allocate about 1/4 of the memory they
needed with v 1.20. This is an important issue on systems
with not too much physical RAM (especially for the DOS
version, that cannot efficiently use virtual memory), but
the benefits are noticeable even on systems with plenty
of RAM (less OS/2 swap reorganization when FastLst ends).
- The "TmpPath" config statement is no longer needed:
FastLst will use the TMP or TEMP environment variable if
no TmpPath statement is used.
- If you want FastLst to kill all uncompressed nodelist
(except for those that are not stored in compressed
format too), just add a "KillSource" line to the "Global
Info" section of FastLst.cfg.
- All the ArcList and Arcdiff statements can now work
WITHOUT the specification of the first letter of the
extension, i.e. "ArcList NodeList.z??" can be changed to
"ArcList NodeList.???" and "ArcDiff NodeDiff.z??" can be
changed to "ArcDiff NodeDiff.???". This way FastLst will
automatically handle any archive type that shows up in
the ArcList directory.
- Now all the nodelists and nodediffs can be maintained in
many different archived formats. The archiving method for
NodeDiffs must be specified using "ArcDiffMethod
<meth>,[<f>] ...".
- The "block" structure of the config file remains, but it
becomes a lot more flexible: the majority of config verbs
can now be anywhere in the config file, but they have
effect on different nodelists depending on their position
in the cfg. E.G.: "PasswordFile", being an address
related verb, can be both in the "Output Nodelist" and
"Input Nodelist" sections. If you use it after "Version7"
but before the first "NodeList", then it will be used for
all the NodeLists of that "Output block". If you use it
after a "NodeList", it will be used (as in the past) for
that Nodelist only. Other non-address related verbs (e.g.
ArcMethod) can be everywhere (global, output nodelist,
input nodelist) and the will affect the operations
depending on their position (global: all the nodelists;
output: all the nodelist in the current output block;
input: the current nodelist only).
- "NoRedir" verb: the nodes that should be redirected will
acquire the empty string as phone number, so that you
will never call a system different from that you think
you are calling.
- Many new verbs have been added to support external
operations; the names are self explaining:
BeforeArcList
AfterArcList
BeforeUnArcList
AfterUnArcList
BeforeUnArcDiff
AfterUnArcDiff
BeforeArcDiff
AfterArcDiff
All the preceding verbs support the %a (complete archive
name) and %f (add/extract file name, no path) parameters.
BeforeEdit
AfterEdit
The preceding verbs support the %l and %d parameters
standing for the full pathnames of the NodeList and
NodeDiff files.
BeforeCompile
AfterCompile
The preceding verbs support the %l parameter only.
BeforeKillSource
The preceding verb does not support any parameter.
It is executed even if "KillSource" is not used.
It is a means to invoke a command before FastLst ends.
The "NeededBeforeKill" verb must be used to specify the
NodeLists needed by this command.
See FastLst.Doc for more information.
- A new cfg section is now available: "NoCompile".
It is a means for maintaining a NodeList (applying
nodediffs, archiving with different archivers etc.)
without compiling it.
- The 3D German PointListst is now internally supported by
FastLst. Just use the "GermanPointList" verb in the
pertaining block.
- When all goes well, FastLst exists with errorlevel 0 if
it has compiled something, 100 if nothing new to compile
was found.
- New method for evaluating the age of a variable extension
arcfile: the file date is considered in addition to the 2
digits in the extension. This way you can keep a greater
number of old files without creating problems to fastlst,
even at the year crossing.
- File descriptions in FILES.BBS are now maintained
(deleted or added). New statements are available:
ArcListDesc <description>
ArcDiffDesc <description>
<description> can contain the following parameters:
%d day
%a archiver
%D date, USA format
%L Local date
- The dash is now recognized as insignificant while doing
the Dial and Cost translations.
- The line # is specified when reporting a config error.
- Some information about the compilation can now be
reported to a fido/squish message area: see FastLst.Doc
for a description for "MsgLogArea", "MsgRemArea" and
related statements.
- FastLst is now multitasking smarter: e.g. it retries for
15s when it has to delete the old compiled nodelists and
rename the new ones.
- New Export capability: FastLst is now able to "export"
segments of nodelist: see the "Export" section in the
docs.
- The Dial and Cost tables can be unified: the old syntax
is still supported, but a new way can be used for cost
and dial specifications. I think that Europeans can
continue using the old syntax (if they like), while the
Americans should appreciate the new way (due to the
complex dial translations needed).
- Fixed bug that caused access violations when no
"StatusLog" was used.
1.20
- WARNING: FastLst v 1.20 is NOT a "Drop In" replacement
for previous versions; you MUST modify the config file
following the comments in it before using this version.
- In order to make available new powerful options without
using clumsy syntax and risking subtle side effects and
strange interactions, some obsolete features have been
dropped and the methods to specify the files to be
compiled have been modified.
- FastLst is faster than ever: on my system and with my
configuration, the OS/2 version is about 25% faster
than v 1.16.
If you time it, be aware that the OS/2 version optimizes
memory allocation (and speed) basing on the needs of the
previous compilation, so it is usually a bit slower on
the first run with a new cfg.
- The ancient "Version6" nodelist support has been
dropped. However the sometime-useful fidouser.lst is
still available.
- The "MergeList" and "Kill999" options have been dropped.
With version7 you can simply compile segments after the
full list, since updated entries are put in the indexes
in the place of old ones.
- Added support for compiling multiple V7 nodelists
with different output names.
- Added support for automatic decompression of
nodelists and nodediffs: no more complex batch files.
- Now FastLst compiles an output nodelist only if some
of its input lists are new: the -f command line switch
has been added to force compilation.
- Pay Attention: version 1.14 introduced a new behaviour
in generating V7 indexes to circumvent a bug in
Binkley 2.50 V7 search function.
Now Binkley 2.58 should have fixed the bug, so
FastLst goes back to the "correct" V7 index.
A new cfg option has been added to keep using the
"bug-circumvent" index form: see "V7BugFix" in the
example config file.
*******************************************************
* If you are using an older Binkley or some program *
* that have got inspiration from Binkley 2.50 sources,*
* you could experience "address not found" problems, *
* unless you explicitly activate the "V7BugFix" *
* option in fastlst.cfg. *
*******************************************************
- The "KillOld" and "AutoErase" verbs have been dropped.
Old nodelist and nodediff files are always erased.
You can control how many archived files are to be kept
via the new archive processing verbs.
- The -o -s -l -g -m -p -b command line switches have
been dropped since they are now useless.
- The "include" cfg keyword and the -i command line
switch have been dropped.
You can still include lists of passwords in a separate
file via the "PasswordFile" cfg keyword, that allows
to optionally omit the "Password" keyword in front of
each password specification.
- Due to the frequent misunderstanding of the real meaning
and function of the "Address" config option, I have
decided to drop it.
These days it is not much useful (in a nodelist
compiler), since many systems have various different
addresses and we are used to write addresses in the full
4D format to avoid ambiguities.
In the various config options that require an address
or a part of it, you now need to specify all the
required fields, always starting with the zone number:
no assumption is made on your zone/net/node.
- The obsolete "MaxBaud" and "Baud" verb have been dropped.
Should you use an old 2400 non error-correcting
modem that needs equal DTE and DCE rates, make sure
your front-end is configured to dial using its own
max baud rate instead of the baud rate reported by
the nodelist for the callee (AutoBaud in Binkley.cfg).
- The "Country" and "UCost" verbs have been dropped,
the "Dial" and "Cost" tables have been slightly modified
to specify domestic and international defaults in a more
coherent manner and to include "UCost" info.
- The "TypeExact" verb has been substituted by the
complementary "BitType" option.
Thus the default is now the "Exact Type" used by
Binkley 2.55 and newer.
- The "TypeCost" verb has been dropped.
It was used to differentiate CallCost basing on
modem type. This way, in a multi-line environment,
you could make each line call the appropriate modem
types.
To achieve the same goal, please use the front-end
dial string selection options (ModemTrans in Binkley).
- The totally useless "Name" and "Comments" options
have been dropped.
- The "Gated" config option has been dropped and the
"GateAddr", "GateCoord" verbs have been replaced by
"IncAddr", "ExcAddr", "IncCoord".
- The "Interlist" config option has been dropped.
It is substituted by the "IncSysOp" verb.
- The "Type" and "CM" keywords have been dropped.
Their functions are more cleanly implemented via
the "NodeFlags" verb.
- The "TypeDef" statement has been modified to a "table"
form, for better coherency.
- The addresses in Fidouser.Lst now always have the
heading zone number, even if it is the same as yours.
- Fixed little bug that could cause some cfg keywords
not to be recognized unless followed by a comment
1.16
- Fixed bug in the Register routine that caused
some keys not to work (1 every 256).
1.15
- Some programs skip the first entry in V6 nodelist,
assuming it is a dummy entry that contains the version
number of the nodelist. These programs could loose
the "zone number" of the first zone compiled, thus
assuming zone 0.
Now FastLst puts the "version ID" entry at the start
of nodelist V6.
1.14
- Some programs do not correctly read V7 indexes when
an empty node appears (This happens when a key has no
greater keys in the lower index level, so that it points
to an empty node).
Sometimes these programs could not find part of the
V7 nodelist entries.
Now FastLst adds a dummy duplicate key to avoid the problem.
- New "Node,<address>,..." keyword to allow
straightforwad addition of nodes without the need for
Zone and Host lines.
- Removed the Point flag in the output nodelist for
point 0 entries (after the "Boss,..." keyword).
1.13
- When a totally empty line was found in a nodelist
file a strange undesired nodelist entry was compiled.
It was not a bug since FTS-0005 does not allow
empty nodelist lines, however it has been fixed
to avoid problems with private manually written
nodelist segments.
- The .DOC now reports an "undocumented" feature:
when using the "Boss,<address>" method for pointlists,
you can also use the point #0 to easily add the Boss
entry, if useful.
1.12
- In the case of SysOps of multiple nodes, all the
Name/Address couples are now put in the SysOp
lists (fidouser.lst and sysop.ndx).
This new behaviour allows to use the great "address
choice" feature of TimEd (excellent Dos/OS2 message
editor by Gerard van Essen 2:281/527).
- New behaviour of "SysDup" option: since now all the
name-duplicate sysop entries are kept by default,
SysDup allows to keep (for a particular sysop name)
only the entry with one of the specified addresses.
- Many internal changes, not visible to users: if you
find out a new unexpected behaviour, please let me
know.
- Removed redundant empty lines in nodelist.prn and
nodelist.txt after comment lines.
1.11
- CRC is now checked on all nodelist files that have
the expected CRC on the first line (previously it
was checked when applying nodediffs only).
- New errorlevel 10 for CRC Error while compiling
nodelist (errorlevel 9 is still used for CRC Error
while applying nodediff).
- When merging the first line is skipped if it contains
the CRC.
- New -r command line switch to avoid exit on CRC Error.
- New -s command line switch to override SYSOP.NDX
base name.
- Any file specification can contain drive and path,
including -n -d -o -s overrides.
- When using Version7 only, the added nodelist segments
are appended to the end of the full main nodelist
instead of the end of your zone.
- Some small changes in Nodelist.Prn and Nodelist.Txt
- Fixed bug introduced in v 1.10: when a region segment
(no zone entry) was compiled as the main nodelist,
zone 0 was erroneously assumed.
Now the address levels not present in the main nodelist
correctly default to the config address.
1.10
- OS/2: First 32 bit version, compiled by BC++.
- OS/2: New "flat" index sorting (no more disk based
merge-sort).
- OS/2: "TmpPath" option in *.cfg not used any more.
- OS/2: Long filename support
- DOS: The "TmpPath" directory is now automatically
created when necessary.
- New improved Disk Full handling (errorlevel 4)
- New "-o<nodebase>" command line switch to override
output file names (NODEX.* -> <nodebase>.*).
- New "KillAfter" config verb, to save old nodelist files
in the case of compilation error.
- New "Boss <address>" statement for easier pointlist
support (see FastLst.DOC).
- New optional partial address parameter in
"MyList <nodefile> [default partial address]"
to allow the addition of nodelist segments without
the need of ZONE, HOST, node prefix lines (V7 only).
See FastLst.DOC for more details.
- New "-i<include>" command line switch to allow easier
different file inclusions.
- New "KillOld" config statement to kill old versions of
nodelist files.
- New "Kill999" config statement to kill the .999 file
that remains after merging with MergeList.
- Now the .999 file is killed whenever FastLst begins
execution, thus you do not have to manually delete it
if you stop using the MergeList command.
- Now the "Gated" config keyword prevents Hub coordinators
of other zones to be put in the output nodelist (only
ZC and NC remain).
- New "GateAddr" config keyword allows to have only
selected zones, regions and nets in the output files.
- New "GateCoord" config keyword allows to have in the
output files only selected coordinators from the excluded
zones, regions and nets.
- New errorlevel 9 exit after CRC error while applying
a nodediff. If "Autoerase" is active, the nodediff and
the resulting nodelist files are erased, otherwise they
are renamed to NODEDIFF.BAD and NODELIST.BAD.
- New "StatusLog" config statement to specify the log
filename in the .cfg instead of the command line.
- New "TypeExact" config option to set modem types in a
way more coherent with the behaviour of Binkley 2.55 and
newer.
- New "SysDup" config option to override FastLst's choice
when killing duplicate SysOp Names.
1.06
- OS/2: Fixed bug that caused some reg. keys not to work.
- DOS: Fixed bug that sometimes caused memory problems
during index sorting.
1.05
- New UCOST verbs to set User Cost Different from Call Cost.
- OS/2: Fixed bug that sometimes caused "Disk Full" error.
1.04
- Changed redirection criteria: if you have a password with a
hold/unpublished system or its coordinator, then it is NOT
redirected; instead it gets an empty phone number string.
- Slightly changed the algorithm to choose the entry for
a multi-SysOp in Sysop.Ndx, so that he never gets data from
an entry that is not used due to local segment override.
- Added "Flags" Keyword to set the user defined bits.
- OS/2: Fixed a bug that caused a "NULL POINTER" error when
compiling only Version 6 and FidoUserLst.
1.03
- Added <CR> before comment output to fix video output when
both comments and report are active, Thanks to Roberto
Zanasi.
- OS/2: First (16 bit) version, ported by Pasquale Cantiello.
1.02
- Null pointer bug fixed in Merge module, Thanks to Pasquale
Cantiello.
1.01
- Minor message and DOC adjusting.
1.00
- First public release.
